If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD180.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
In Hotel Lilien – a restored Victorian home in the Catskills where cosiness and coolness mingle as easily as guests playing board games or billiards – the Lost Boys Hospitality Group has found a delightfully eccentric, yet elegant, new home. They gained a cult following with properties in Panama (and will happily swap travel tales over craft cocktails at the restored bar counter), and will amass yet more devotees here, for rooms all unique in their original features, and furnishings both storied and sleekly modern; outdoorsy pursuits (skiing Hunter Mountain, guided nature walks, free-to-use sleds and snowshoes); and a warm, come-together feel.
Double rooms from $194.40, including tax at 8 per cent.
More details
Rates include a breakfast of warmed croissants, prosciutto and smoked cheese, fruit, yoghurt parfait and granola, washed down with Partners coffee and teas.
Also
Hotel Lilien’s irregular Victorian lay-out may be charming, but makes it an unsuitable stay for guests with mobility issues.
At the hotel
Fire pit and Adirondack chairs; porch and deck; sleds, snowshoes and board games to borrow; billiards room; lounge; library; small boutique; and free WiFi. In rooms: hairdryer and Further bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Typical of an old Victorian stay, rooms have a one-size-does-not-fit-all nature, with some box rooms with windows on all walls, or some taking up the whole attic, all set at the top of a winding spiral staircase. We prefer the rooms in the historic house, most of which have original wood panelling and have been coolly furnished with finds from estate sales and vintage markets, with some very notable named designers (Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, Franco Albini…), plus artworks from local creatives and Japanese woodblock prints. Each has bags of charm, but we like the octagonal Full room, which feels like a cocooning ship’s cabin.
Poolside
The Catskills line up all the favourites poolside: sprawling greenery, mountainous panoramas… It never gets old. Set at the front of the house and surrounded by pairs of white loungers and fringed parasols, the pool is open from 9am to sunset, from late spring to early Fall. Towels are provided and in season, the hotel's Summer Spritz cart will serve cocktails by the pool from 1pm to 5pm (no outside drinks or glass bottles are allowed).
Packing tips
In winter wrap up like the Stay Puft marshmallow man with any ski wear in tow; in summer, bring your hiking boots.
Also
Get cosily competitive in the lounge with checkers, Scrabble, Clue and more games.
Pet‐friendly
Up to two dogs can only be accommodated in the Deck rooms for $50 a night, but they’re not allowed in the main building's public spaces or rooms. See more pet-friendly hotels in Catskills.
Children
There are plenty of games afoot here (board, lawn and billiards) to keep older kids entertained.
Best for
All ages will get something out of a stay here, but especially those old enough to learn to ski or ride a zip line.
Recommended rooms
Rooms vary vastly in size, but one of the newer deck rooms sleeps four and has a bunk-bed, and the attic room is family-sized too. Some of the larger rooms in the main house fit a pack-and-play.
Activities
Fun, fun, fun comes in the form of games (both board and lawn) and billiards. But they’ll enjoy rummaging in the gear cupboard for sleds and snowshoes. Otherwise they can learn to ski on Hunter Mountain, follow the Rip Van Winkle trail or ride the zip lines.
Swimming pool
Parents should keep an eye on their kids if they’re using the hotel pool.
Meals
Hotel Lilien’s firm-favourite American comfort food is a cross-generational pleasure.
In winter, anywhere by a fire (both indoors and outdoors) feels very snug; in summer, perch on the deck. And, take your drink up to the third floor where there’s a secret reading nook with a telescope and recliner.
Dress Code
If there’s ever a time to rock adult footed jammies and onesies in public, this is it.
Hotel restaurant
The menu is very casual with shared plates to pick at which change with the season, but dining here is as cosy as having a wool blanket draped over your shoulders as you curl up by the wood-burning stove (which may well be how you experience it). The fried-chicken sandwich is a sweet-salty triumph, served in a toasted potato bun with house ’slaw and bread-and-butter pickles. But you should also get stuck into the brisket tacos, miso-spiked devilles eggs, maple-roasted-carrot salad and s'mores cookies. Or pick at citrus-y marinated olives, basil-oil-drizzled fries, or local cheeses and hams.
Hotel bar
The bar counter sits in the glow of colourful stained-glass and the jukebox, in the original part of the house, with rows of wooden seats lined up. The owners’ vision was for ‘a place where a hipster from Williamsburg could pull up a chair next to a local electrician’ and share a drink, and it’s a welcoming spot. It opens out into the dining space, where there are squishy fire-warmed couches to sink into. Draft beers and ciders come from the Catskills, there’s a tightly curated international wine list, and cocktails are classic, signature or seasonal. The blood-orange negroni sbagliato (with prosecco…) is a popular choice for warming down the day, but we also like the Easy Rocker with bourbon, peach nectar, black tea and lemon; or the spicy Off the Record, with mezcal, pineapple, lime, basil and chilli. In winter, hot toddies and spiced ciders will keep you toasty. On Saturdays, DJs spin the decks.
Last orders
Breakfast runs from 8am to 10am. The bar opens at 5pm and closes at 9pm (10pm on Fridays and Saturdays). There's a slimmed-down food menu on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
`Hotel Lilien is in the Catskills, at the halfway point between New York City and Albany, close to Tannersville Village and a stone’s throw from Hunter Mountain. Set amid forest along Route 23A, it’s a stop on the Rip Van Winkle trail.
Planes
Albany Airport is the closest, an hour’s drive away, with routes up and down the Eastern seaboard, and further inland. For international arrivals, New York’s airports are around two hours’ drive away, and Boston Logan is about three hours.
Trains
Hudson train station is about a 40-minute drive from the hotel; it’s on the Amtrak line, around three hours by rail from Penn Station.
Automobiles
The Catskills is largely remote and rural, so a car is a necessity; although Hotel Lilien is a hunkering-down-for-the-winter kind of place where you could just leave for a hike or snowshoes shuffle, if you wish. The colourful village of Tannersville is just a 30-minute walk away, too. If you have wheels, keep in mind that roads can be more hazardous or even closed off in the winter; there’s ample free parking onsite.
Worth getting out of bed for
Hotel Lilien has gained a reputation for being the ‘unofficial living room of Tannersville’, and hibernating here is appealing indeed. There are board and lawn games to play, a billiards room, a library with a piano, and cosy little nooks tucked away on each floor (a chess table here, a reading spot with a telescope, all the better for gazing out at Hunter Mountain). Plus, there’s the jukebox in the bar to play through and DJs on Saturday nights. But, there are also lots of reasons to venture outdoors too – the hotel’s gear room has sleds and snowshoes to borrow for snowier times, and backpacks and walking sticks for summer hikes. There’s plenty of ground to cover; each Saturday and Sunday, from 10am, a local nature guide will lead you down the Huckleberry Trail and along Gooseberry Creek to Rip Van Winkle Lane and back around. Or head out to Kaaterskill Falls (spectacular in Fall), wander through the 178 acres of the Mountain Top Arboretum, or you could visit Rip Van Winkle’s hollow (just don’t accept any drinks from strangers) – after which you’ll snooze like Irving Washington’s titular character. Hunter Mountain has both popular ski runs, and zip lines for when the snow melts, and Tannersville may be a small town, but it has a big personality with rainbow-hued clapboard houses, cute cafés and eateries worth venturing out for.
Local restaurants
OK, so maybe true, rugged mountain sorts wouldn’t pick gnocchetti out of a pasta line-up or care how heirloom their beans are, but you can pull on some hardy plaid and your foodie hat at the Deer Mountain Inn, where the dining room is low-lit with mounts on the wall and a roaring fire, but the menu comes with a list of short-supply-chain farms and makers who practise regenerative food systems; and has innovative plates such as chicken-liver pâté with gooseberry and pickled garlic; steelhead trout in sunflower curry; and maple-bourbon pudding with a brown-butter cookie. Jessie’s Harvest House is a couple-run labor of love and has worldly flavours: mussels with andouille sausage and sherry broth; crispy brussel sprouts with banana vinegar and clover honey; steamed pork-belly buns with house kimchi. At Scribner’s Lodge, Prospect goes south in delicious style, with spicy esquites, duck flautas with mole and crema, and smoked chicken in a pasilla-chilli glaze. Tabla employs around three-quarters of its staff from within a five-mile radius and the whole team at a living wage; and its menu shows a lot of heart too, offering devilled eggs with ’nduja and bottarga; lemony, garlicky, chilli-spiked prawns, strip steak slathered in chimichurri, and more.
Local cafés
If you need fresh juices, strong coffee and other warming things, plus a slice of something sweetly homemade, try Pantry on Main or Maggie’s Krooked Café in Tannersville. Or the Village Market Deli has doorstop sandwiches. In Hunter, Fellow Mountain Café is a stylish rustic spot dabbling in locally sourced deliciousness: order the smoked-trout tartine, carrot and ginger soup with curried cashews, or roast-beef sandwich spread with herb-y goat’s cheese. And time your visit from Tuesday to Thursday when they’re serving their limited pastry menu, with tahini brownies, lemon-rosemary scones, pear-and-ginger muffins and other treats.
Local bars
In Hunter, Jägerberg Beer Hall and Alpine Tavern has sudsy steins of Dunkel, Kölsch and other German favourites, cheek-puckering goses and local brews too, plus top-alcohol-soaking fare: mustard-dipped pretzels, bratwurst platters and schnitzel of all kinds. It’s worth taking the road less travelled to West Kill Brewery; set on a farm, it brews beers using maple sap, honey, cherries and thyme all foraged, grown or made onsite. Lilien Hotel sells West Kill’s beers, but the tap room at the brewery is a lively spot with food pop-ups; on the way down look for the sign to Stu’s Records – a vinyl shop set up in Stu’s home.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this regal restored Victorian home-turned-hotel in the Catskills after sleeping as soundly as local legend Rip Van Winkle, a full account of their breath-of-fresh-air break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Hotel Lilien…
Set in a Victorian house on a wide acreage amid the Catskills mountains, with spiral staircases, winding corridors and tucked-away nooks, Hotel Lilien does seem like the sort of place a group might be gathered in to solve a murder mystery, but the reality is far less tense – in fact, this is a chicken-soup-for-the-soul sorta place, with a fire pit to gather round, a library and tucked-away reading nooks, sink-into seating and board games. But if that all sounds a little close to a weekend at meemaw’s, hospitality group the Lost Boys and California-based design firm Field Theory have given it a cool edge, adding statement seating by Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, and Franco Albini; Calder prints, Japanese woodblocks and other attention-grabbing artworks, some by local creatives. The dining room and bar contrasts the likes of fried-chicken sandwiches and heirloom salads, as well as brews from down the road with European wines. And, there’s more play to be had in the surroundings, with ski runs and zip lines close by and a gear cupboard filled with sleds and snowshoes – so, the games are very much afoot…
